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Category: coaches

Episode 48
Coach Brad Keenan got to the St. Vital Arena about ten minutes after Hadley arrived. He, too, needed to deliver a powerful, inspirational speech to his team. Two of his top players, injured goalie, Rick Miller and suspended defenseman, Eric Coswell would not be playing tonight. The Maplewood Cougars were not only going to miss the incredible skill set of his two top players, but also their maturity and leadership abilities. He knew that his team would not be approaching tonight’s game with a strong sense of confidence. They had all seen how their backup goalie, Miles Myers had performed in yesterday morning’s practice. They watched dejectedly as Miles let in one soft goal after another.
Brad recalled how he became so exasperated that he did something that he very rarely did. He called out one of his players publicly. Brad remembered his exact words as he verbally stripped down his young, relatively inexperienced, second string goaltender.
“Do you have any idea how much is riding on tomorrow night’s game? We desperately need a win. I know you’re not Rick Miller, but the team is counting on you to step up to the plate and make everyone forget that we don’t have the services of Rick Miller tomorrow.”
As soon as the team finished practice and arrived back at the dressing room, Brad asked Miles if he could have a word with him in the coach’s office.
“I’m sorry I yelled at you, Miles. It’s not your fault that Rick Miller won’t be able to play tomorrow. To tell you the truth, I’ve been under a ton of stress lately and this morning I let it get the best of me. I just ask that you give the team your best effort tomorrow night.”
“Thanks Coach. I know I played shitty this morning. I’ve been under a lot of stress myself. Besides knowing that I need to replace Ricky, my dad has really been on my case. You see, I bought a used car that I fell in love with yesterday. My dad was not impressed that I used up a good chunk of my college tuition savings to pay for the car. Don’t worry coach. I’m going to play my best game ever tomorrow.”

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Episode 47
Norberry Knights coach, Jeff Hadley, arrived at the St.Vital Arena about ninety minutes before the start of the rematch between his team and the Maplewood Cougars. Jeff was a tall, thin man in his mid-twenties. This was his third season as head coach of the Norberry Knights juvenile hockey team. Coach Hadley was nervously pacing the rubber matted floor of the St. Vital Arena’s visitors’ dressing room. The room reeked from the stale sweat that the midget hockey team that had occupied the dressing room fifteen minutes previously left behind.
Jeff would stop pacing periodically, sit down on the players bench and would jot down some notes for the message that he wanted to deliver to his team before they started to arrive in the dressing room. Coach Hadley felt a tinge of guilt as he remembered that it was his idea to ask Glenn Davidson to viciously attack Maplewood’s star goalie, Rick Miller.
Jeff attended his local Baptist church occasionally. but he struggled a great deal with his relationship to God. Hadley was a true believer in Jesus Christ and the Bible, but Jeff would be the first to admit that his walk with the Lord left a lot to be desired in certain areas of his life. Jeff’s wife, Hillary, was very disturbed by her husband’s frequent spiritual lapses, but she had no idea of how inwardly tortured the love of her life really was.
Nobody had to tell Jeff Hadley that he lived a lifestyle of which his pastor and his wife’s friends did not approve. When his wife was not around, Jeff would often drop F bombs and assorted other profanities. He would often think to himself:
“Most of the Christians I know are a bunch of gossipy, backstabbing hypocrites. They should take their own moral inventories as it says in step five of the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous. Why are they so concerned about my spiritual condition? I don’t judge their lifestyles. What gives them the right to judge me?
Hell, I live in a tough world. My critics think that it’s easy to have to convince husbands and fathers to buy enough life insurance to provide for their families. Do these people think it’s easy to produce a winning hockey team every year? Man, if those people only knew how much stress I carry around inside, day in and day out, I hope they would have the common decency to ease up on me. So what if I induce some might players to resort to using dirty tactics to win important hockey games? It’s a hard, competitive world we live in. I just try to prepare my players for real life.”

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The Maplewood Cougars walked very slowly back to their dressing room. Many of the players could barely hold up their heads. When they arrived in their dressing room, the players sat down on the benches next to the equipment stalls No one said a word. It was as if the life had been drained right out of them.

After a few minutes of painful silence, Miles Myers entered the Maplewood Cougars’ dressing room. As he had removed his Norberry Knights jersey, his shoulder pads and chest protector were now visible. He looked cautiously around the room and said, “Sorry guys, Coach Keenan told me to play my best, so I did. Rick that last goal was not your fault. It was a real tough one, but you played it right all the way. Brian Williams just made a lucky shot.”

“Thanks Miles. You played great. Don’t apologize. You just did your job the way Coach told you to. I think that tonight was your best game all season. The team can rest assured during the off-season that next year they will have a great starting goalie,” Rick said as he unclasped the buckle on his left leg pad.

Coach Brad Keenan spoke next, “Thank you Rick. I couldn’t agree with you more. Miles was exceptionally good in goal tonight. Now I have a message for all you guys. I’m proud of each and everyone of you. No one expected you to play as well as you did this year. You worked hard and played your hearts out for me. We now know what it feels like to be a winning team. I can guarantee each and every one of you, that by this time next year, we will not only beat the Norberry Knights, we will also make the playoffs. And you can take that to the bank. You guys all gained invaluable experience this year and changed your attitudes from being a losing team to that of being a winning team,” Brian Keenan said. The Maplewood Cougars said in unison, “Thank you coach. You did a great job coaching us this year.” The team had all agreed to say this before the game started.

You could feel the heaviness leave the room and a steam of positivity come in. Their hockey season was over, but the Maplewood Cougars could leave the dressing room with their heads held high. The players were all expecting great things to happen t next season.

Rick felt badly about letting in the last goal of the season, but knew that this was not a bad way of going out. He had been one of the Maplewood Cougars bright lights for three years now and he was leaving knowing that he had done a great job for his team. He was leaving with only one regret, that his team did not win the city championship. When Rick left the dressing room for the final time Misty ran right up to him and jumped into his arms while wrapping her legs around him. This happened so fast that Rick dropped his heavy equipment bag on the ground.

Misty had tears running down her cheeks and just clung to Rick. “I’m so proud of you Rick and I love you so much.”

While still clutched in Misty’s embrace, Rick could see Miles and Linda Saunders walking up to them.

“You guys should get a room,” Miles joked.

Upon hearing this, Misty let go of Rick and turned around to see who was talking to them. “Hey,” she said still wiping the tears from her eyes.

“Now it’s time for me to give you some Kleenex, Misty,” Linda said.

“I just want to thank you Rick for all the help you gave me this season. I really appreciate it,” Miles said.

“You are very welcome Miles. With you as the new starting goalie for next year, I know that I’m leaving the team in good hands.”

The four young people then walked towards the arena parking lot, gave each other a long hug and got into their cars.

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One of the Norberry’s defensemen Phil Regent skated over to Miles to have a brief chat,

“Look Myers. This is how it’s going to go. Me and the rest of the team are going to supply you with all of the protection you are going to need. We are going to keep the puck in Maplewood’s end for as much of the game as we can. When Maplewood does get possession we are going to really lay on the body and check them hard. We’ll ride them hard right along the boards. When your team does get a chance for a shot on goal, we’ll do our best to block it. Any shots that do get through us, I expect you to stop them. Any questions?”

“No, I want to win this game for you guys. I’ve got a lot on the line. I need to prove to myself, my coach and the rest of the Cougars that I’m a better goalie than Rick Miller is. The emotion of fear transformed into rage within Miles Myers. He was sick and tired of standing in the shadow of Rick Miller.

“That’s exactly what I want to hear!” Phil Regent said as he slapped Miles Myers on the pads and skated up the ice to await the upcoming face off.

Episode 64:

The fourth line grinders had done their job, just not in the way coach Brad Keenan had expected. They changed the tempo of the game, not by roughing up the Norberry Knights, but by taking out their starting goaltender. Brad could now go back to his original game plan, to out skate and out score the Norberry Knights. If the fans and the Norberry Knights were surprised that Brad Keenan would agree to allowing his opposition to use his backup goalie, Brad thought it was a flash of brilliance. He was confident that Miles would not be able to handle the offensive onslaught of the Maplewood Cougars. After all, Miles’ own team knew Miles’ weaknesses better than the Norberry Knights. They could utilize the weaknesses in Miles’s playing style that they had observed during their countless practise sessions.

Norberrry’s coach, Jeff Hadley, likewise, had little confidence in Miles Myers’ goaltending skills and felt that his decision had been a good one even if the original idea came from his assistant coach, Bill White. He felt that borrowing a second string backup goalie was a much better situation, than being forced to make one of his players who had no experience playing goal, put on the pads. Jeff knew his players well.

They would step up their game to meet the new challenge in front of them. The Knights would love to show their fans that they could beat the Maplewood Cougars, even without their starting goalie.

Both teams put their scoring lines out after the brief intermission had ended. Brad Keenan strategy was to score three or four quick goals that would put the game away for them. The score clock now indicated there was thirteen minutes minutes and forty-five seconds left to go in the third period.

Both teams played to a level that they had not demonstrated so far this season. Once the game resumed, the Norberry Knights first line put great offensive pressure on Maplewood. The Knights passed the puck around with amazing accuracy and were able to get an array of dangerous shots at the Cougar’s net. Rick stopped every shot during a three -minute flurry of enemy attack. He made some stops that caused the crowd to gasp with amazement.

The rest of the Cougar players knew that Rick was the one player who was keeping them in the game. After the three- minute rally was over, Coach Keenan decided to send out his fourth line. Brad knew that he needed to give his two scoring lines a rest and after all, it was the fourth line that had scored the Cougars’ only goal. Norberry’s coach was hesitant to take his top scoring line off, but he knew that they needed a rest.

Just before the next face off, Brad Keenan called for a time out. He quickly signalled for his third line to get off the ice, while sending out his best scoring line. Maplewood’s coach took the gamble as his team just needed one goal to get the lead. By the time Jeff Hadley saw what Brad had done, it was too late for him to change his lines again.

Energized by Rick’s great goaltending, Maplewood won the face off and their center, Bill Woodward made a very accurate pass to left winger Joe Palec. Joe fired a hard snapshot that hit the crossbar of Norberry’s net. Miles Myers was shaken up by the shot but was just happy it wasn’t a goal. At that point Miles tapped into all his anger and frustration. He made some dazzling saves. No one had ever seen him play this well. One player suggested that he was playing way over his head. Cougar defenseman, Eric Coswell told a teammate sitting next to him on the players’ bench that if Miles could play for them like he was playing for the Knights they could have two strong goalies going into the play offs.

Jeff Hadley’s strategy was to keep his third line on the ice for about a minute and then returned to his scoring line.

The two respective grinder lines went at each other with a fury. Each team’s lines did not want to be responsible for costing their team the game. Both teams didn’t hesitate to lay on the body and it was very obvious they were both playing a defensive game. Just as the two teams were about to make a line change, Garry Means, Maplewood’s third line center, took a high slap shot that hit the screen behind Norberry’s net. The puck bounced right off the fencing and hit Miles Meyers in the back of his right shoulder. A startled Miles Myers quickly turned around to see the puck just behind his goal. While just trying to clear the puck for a line change, Garry Means had managed to score his second goal in the hockey game. The score was now tied at two goals apiece with just two minutes to go on the score clock.

The Maplewood Cougars just needed one more goal to win the game. Coach Keenan decided to leave his fourth line out on the ice for the last two minutes to try to hold on to the tie and force the game into overtime.

Once regulation time had ended, he would draw up a plan for his team to score the winning goal during the sudden-death overtime.

Coach Jeff Hadley saw what was happening and decided to send out his best scoring line.

He figured that his team could score a quick goal to end the game during regulation time.

The Cougars fourth line did their coach proud. During an offensive onslaught by the Norberry Knights, the Cougars grinder line kept the Knights forwards closely in check, shooting the puck over center ice to kill off some time. The Cougars defensemen also dropped to the ice the to block shots from the point on three occasions.

With thirty seconds left to go in the game the Cougars had a defensive breakdown, and Norberry center Brian Williams had a clear breakaway in front of him.

Rick Miller slowly moved out of his crease times until he was within a few feet of Brian Williams. Rick quickly dropped to the ice in an attempt to stop Brian’s wrist shot. Williams managed to shoot the puck through a small opening between Rick’s pads. Rick Miller turned his head in time to see the pick slowly dribble over the goal line. This turned out to be the game winning goal.

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When the buzzer finally rang, signalling the end of the game, Rick was mobbed by his teammates. He looked up toward the stands in time to witness the Maplewood Cougars fans giving him a standing ovation.

One of the fans yelled, “Thank goodness you’re back, Rick. You really dug us out of a deep hole in that one!”

Rick waved back to his fans and shouted back, “Thanks a lot man. I really appreciate it.”

“Way to go Rick. If you keep playing like this, we may have a chance of making the play-offs.”

Rick was almost walking on clouds as he walked the rest of the way to his team’s dressing room. He could feel the pats on his shoulder as he neared the visitors dressing room door.

Miles Myers was the first player to enter the dressing room. He abandoned his usual routine of slowly getting out of his hockey gear and changing into his street clothes.

Tonight Miles was in a hurry to get out of the dressing room and leave the arena as quickly as possible. He hadn’t played a role in tonight’s victory and this game made it obvious that the Cougars were a much better team with Rick Miller in goal. Miles turned to Rick as he was leaving the dressing room, “You’re the man. You played great.”

Since their season started, this was the

first time that the Maplewood Cougars were really excited about their chances. This was an amazing change from the beginning of the season. The present cadre of young players had never experienced what it was like to play for a winning team. During the previous years, they could hardly dream of making the play-offs. They were now in a position to take the last open play-off spot in their division. What they now needed to do was win three of their next games and have Winakwa lose all three of their remaining league games.

Missing Episode 2

The player’s girlfriends were waiting for their boyfriends outside the dressing room. They were all laughing and joking and were in a jubilant mood. All but one girl was celebrating, Linda Saunders, the hockey wives’fearless leader. Linda was crying and shaking in a stall in the women’s washroom. For Linda, this evening had been very humiliating. She wasn’t happy in the least that the Cougars had won tonight’s game. Linda, racking with sobs, felt angry and humiliated. Last year at this time Linda would have heard the other girls telling her how well Miles had played, and that the loss of the game would have been much worse if it hadn’t been for Mile’s ability to make some key saves during the game.

After a few minutes Linda left the stall and tried to pull yourself together. She was washing her face at the sink when Misty Roberts entered the restroom.

Linda took a quick glance to see who had just come in. Misty could see that Linda had been crying.

“What’s the matter Linda? Why aren’t you celebrating with the rest of the girls?” Misty asked.

“Gee, I wonder why!” Linda snapped back. You’re the one with the hero boyfriend.” Her anger brought on another rush of tears.

“And your friends arranged it so that I would have to apologize to you in front of the other girls. How do you think that made me feel? You know, I think I should just dumped Miles and stopped being a team supporter.”

Misty walked slowly towards Linda and pulled some Kleenex out of her purse. “It looks like you need a big hug.”

As Misty opened her arms Linda somewhat reluctantly received her hug.

“It’s going to be all right Linda. Yes, Rick played well tonight, but what would the team have done without Miles while Rick was injured? I think the girls respect you more after your public apology to Rick and me. That took a lot of courage,” Misty said before breaking the embrace. “Thank you for saying that Misty. I badly misjudged you. You are a very forgiving and caring person.

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When both teams finished their line changes, head referee, Steve Kowalsi, took a quick look at both sides and didn’t like what he was seeing. Kowalski cast a menacing look towards the coaches on both benches. Both coaches quickly moved their heads towards their assistant coaches as a way of avoiding the referee’s icy glare.

As Steve Kowalski was getting ready to drop the puck for the face off, he focused his attention on both team’s centers. “Don’t forget what I told you guys before the game even started. If there is any nonsense on this shift, I won’t hesitate to kick players right out of the game.” Both centers acknowledged the head referee by nodding their heads in agreement. The right wingers on both teams, Glenn Davidson for the Knights and Chad Barlow for the Cougars both tried some intimidation by staring each other down.

The grinder lines on both teams seemed to mutually agree that it was time for some rough body to body contact, but they would wait until later in the game before some really nasty stuff started.

The Maplewood Cougars won the draw on the first face off. Cougar defenseman Keith Whittier gathered up the puck and made a perfect tape to tape pass to Cougars power forward, Chad Bowers. Out of the corner of his eye, Chad could see Glenn Davidson from the Knights charging directly for him. Without a second to spare, Bowers passed the puck to center, Garry Means. Garry wound up for his first one-timer of the season and connected perfectly with the puck.

Norberry’s goalie, Kevin Sands, shot out his trapper glove attempting to stop the shot that was headed for the top right corner of the net. The puck glanced off the mesh part of Sand’s glove and dropped in the right hand corner of the net. The linesman raised his hand and blew the whistle to signal a goal. No one looked more surprised than center Garry Means as his teammates rushed towards him to congratulate him. The fourth line had scored their first goal of the season. The scoreboard now read Norberry Knights 2, Maplewood Cougars 1.

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The first night on the job two guys started heckling the LaSalle’s house band, Blind Rage. Godzilla didn’t waste any time. He grabbed both those idiots by the back of their collars and carried both of them out to the back parking lot. One of the hecklers turned to the other one and said, “We can take him. It’s two against one.”

As soon as one of them made a move toward him, Godzilla grabbed both of them and dropped them in a nearby parking lot dumpster. That’s how Godzilla likes to take care of business. As Winter Dreams were all there to watch Blind Rage that evening, we were very impressed with Godzilla’s ability to handle a dicey situation. That night the band called him over to our table and asked Gordon to be our road manager. The rest is history as they say,” Peyton said.

Episode 50:

“What does Godzilla have to do with Misty’s problem?” Sabrina asked.

“Oh, in a very creative way, he can put an end to Linda Saunders badmouthing Misty and Rick,” Peyton answered.

“I’ll ask Godzilla to pay a surprise visit to see Miles Meyers after hockey practise tomorrow. Rick told me that Miles is always the last player to leave the arena. Miles’s physical conditioning is not that great and due to exhaustion following a practise or a game he needs to take off his goalie equipment very slowly. He stops for brief rest periods each time that he takes off a piece of equipment. After undressing, Miles will take a long, hot, soapy shower. He will then put an extra large towel on a bench and lie down for about fifteen minutes. After that Miles slowly and methodically puts on his street clothes.

When Miles leaves the arena he will stop off at the 7-11 convenience store around the corner from the arena. Miles’ usual post practise routine normally takes forty-five to fifty minutes.

Episode 51:

“I will estimate the time of Meyers’ expected arrival at the store and will ask Godzilla to wait outside the doors until Miles arrives. When Meyers leaves the store with his banana flavored Slurpee in hand, Godzilla will tell Myers that he is a big fan and would like to have a smoke with him in the back of the 7-11. Once there, Godzilla will inform Miles Meyers of the real reason for his visit. He will let Meyers know in no uncertain terms that he is to stop his girlfriend, Linda Saunders, from spreading around anymore malicious rumors about Misty Roberts and Rick Miller. Furthermore, Miles will need to convince Linda that it is in the couple’s best interests to call an emergency meeting of the hockey wives. During this meeting, Linda will take back all the vicious rumors that she said about Rick and Misty, informing the other girls that they are all lies. To top matters off, Linda will make a public apology to Misty and Rick. To make sure that Miles Meyers gets the message, Godzilla will manhandle and rough Miles up enough that he realizes the seriousness of the matter.

Episode 52

“I really appreciate your offer, Peyton. Sounds like your plan might work, but I have some concerns. What if some of the other players on Rick’s team blame Rick for the incident?” Misty asked nervously, brushing some snowflakes from her hair.

“Got that one covered too, Misty. Godzilla will let Miles Meyers know in no uncertain terms that if he tells anyone about their little conversation that they had behind 7-11, he will pay Miles another visit. During this meeting Miles Meyers can expect enough of a beating to keep him out of action for the rest of the season,” Peyton explained.

“You would actually do that for us? Peyton?” Misty asked

“Absolutely, you and Rick are two of our best friends. I’d do anything I can to help,” Peyton answered.

After their conversation on the park bench, both Peyton and Sabrina walked Misty home.

Episode 53:

After Rick Miller was released from the hospital, Brad Keenan gave him a phone call. “So what did you decide about playing hockey this year Rick?”

“I’m going to take the recommended three weeks off, Coach and then will play it by ear from there,” Rick answered.

“Are you sure that you shouldn’t just take the rest of the season off?” Brad asked.

“No. I don’t want to do that Coach. We still have a good chance of making a run for the playoffs this season.

“Yes, we do,” the coach said. “I’m just hoping that the rest of the team puts their full support behind Miles Meyers during the next three weeks or however long your recovery takes. They don’t seem to have much confidence in Miles right now.”

“I wouldn’t worry about it Coach. I’ll be coming to watch all the games. While I’m there, I’ll encourage the players to backup Miles. In fact, I’ll insist upon it. I’ll also be in the dressing room between periods to give Miles advice if he starts to struggle,” Rick said.

“I knew that I could count on you Rick. You are definitely a team player.”

Episode 54:

All went as Peyton Ramparts had planned. Godzilla had his little meeting with Miles Meyers behind the 7-11, and as instructed, Godzilla gave Meyers a good working over and let him know in no uncertain terms that if his girlfriend, Linda Saunders, didn’t stop tormenting Misty this would be just a small taste of what was in store for Miles’s if his girlfriend didn’t comply with the instructions.

Godzilla also reminded Meyers that a public apology from Linda was non-negotiable. Right after the Miles Myers incident with Godzilla, Miles phoned Linda Saunders and told her what had transpired.

“I can’t do that!” was Linda’s initial response. “I would be totally humiliated and would lose all credibility with the other girls.”

“It will be a lot worse for you if you don’t comply,” Miles told her. If the rest of the team and the girls find out that you are the reason I got beat up, they would blame you. Think about it, Linda. If Godzilla gives me a much worse beating than I took tonight, I could be out of the lineup for weeks, just when the team needs me the most. Then what are the Cougars going to do? They only have two goalies and we will both be out with injuries.”

“You’re putting me very tough position, Miles. It’s like being between a rock and a hard place,” Linda said.

“But I’m right. Aren’t I Linda? And anyway. whose idea was it to spread those nasty rumors about Misty and Rick in the first place?” Miles responded.

“Okay I’ll do it! I’ll call the girls together for an emergency meeting just before the game tomorrow.”

Episode 55:

Linda Saunders arranged a meeting with the hockey wives one hour before the Cougars game against the Norberry Knights. She had a difficult time keeping it together as she made her speech in front of the other girls. Her hands appeared to be shaking and she was very red in the face.

She began her statement by telling the other girls that she had been very mean to both Rick Miller and especially Misty Roberts.

“Girls, I am ashamed to say that my behaviour towards Misty Roberts has been both hurtful and cruel. She doesn’t deserve to be talked about the way that I have recently been talking about her. My cousin, Rudy is not the most trustworthy individual that I know. I should not have used him as a source when spreading those horrible rumours about both Misty and Rick Miller. I’m very sorry and ashamed about hurting Misty. With that being said, from now on we are going to take the high road where Misty is concerned. I ask that all of us will do our best tonight to be friendly and loving towards Misty. We need to make her feel that she is one of the girls. I will be the first one to greet Misty tonight and I will offer her a very sincere and heartfelt apology.”

The girls were all sitting on the long benches in an empty dressing room. They were all quite shocked by Linda’s speech. Most of them shook their heads in agreement as Susan, Eric Coswell’s girlfriend said, “Let’s do it.”

As Linda Saunders left the meeting she went out in the parking lot to clear her head. She was very angry with Miles for making her give this speech to the girls. Linda was starting to re-evaluate her relationship with Miles Meyers. She thought:

If Miles was a real man, wouldn’t he have taken the beating from Godzilla to protect his girlfriend’s honour and credibility?

If the circumstances were different and she didn’t value being the leader of the hockey wives, Linda would probably have broken up with Miles on the spot. The problem was the Linda Saunders enjoyed her prominent position in the hockey wives circle. If she dumped Miles, there wouldn’t be any more players on the Cougars that she could date. Linda sat down and thought about her alternatives after tonight’s game was over. She knew that she was a smart girl and if she waited patiently a good idea would come to her.

Episode 56:

Four weeks had passed and Rick had begun practising with his team again. His lightening sharp reflexes had returned and he felt good about his performance during practise. Coach Brad Keenan was hoping to have Rick start in goal in the upcoming make-up game against the Norberry Knights.

Although life was looking up for Rick Miller, the same could not be said for the Maplewood Cougars. They had lost all but one game with Miles Myers as their starting goaltender. Rick had given Miles some good pointers, but Miles was still too inexperienced to play at a winning level in this league. The young goalie had the potential and the talent and time was on his side, but for the rest of this season, the Cougars only chance of capturing a play-off berth was with Rick Miller playing goal in every game.

The evening of the make-up game had arrived. In the Cougars’ dressing room, their head coach was pacing nervously back and forth as he addressed his team.

“I don’t have to say it. You all know how much tonight’s game means. We have to win it in order to retain any mathematical hope of making the play-offs this year. Even a tie won’t save us. We have to win tonight.”

Episode 57:

Due to the brawl in the stands that took place during their last outing, security was very tight at the St. Vital Arena. Three uniformed police constables were on duty reinforced with six guards hired from the Garda Security Company.

The head referee for tonight’s game was Steve Kowakski who had the reputation as the official who administered the most discipline to players who broke the rules.

Rick Miller was back in goal for The Maplewood Cougars. During the pre-game warm up, Rick had easily handled shots coming from all angles and had not allowed a single puck get passed him. The stands were packed on both sides of the arena with loud but cautious fans that were here to support their respective teams. The fans on both sides were very cognizant of the extra security officials. It appeared that none of the fans had made any plans to spend the night in jail following tonight’s game.

Head referee, Steve Kowalski skated over to both the Knights and the Cougars benches and read the riot act to both the coaches and the players. He explained, in no uncertain terms that he and his linesmen were going to call a very tight game and if he saw any player intentionally attempt to injure an opponent, he would personally make sure that the offender would be suspended for

the rest of the season including the playoffs. Both coaches nodded their heads by way of indicating that they clearly understood his stern message.

Episode 58:

As head referee Steve Kowalski got ready to drop the puck, Bill Woodward, the center for the Cougars and Dennis Sharp, Norberry’s center positioned themselves for the opening face off of the game. At the drop of the puck the Knights center won the face-off and passed the puck back to defenseman Lyle Gaines. Gaines careened the puck off the boards in the direction of right winger Dale Hanson. Hanson turned on a burst of speed that moved him about fifteen feet from Maplewood’s goal. As Dale Hanson wound up for a blazing slap-shot, Eric Coswell, the Cougar’s star defenseman, moved in front of the goal to move Knights right winger Taylor King out of the crease area. Coswell was attempting to give his goalie, Rick Miller, a clear view of the upcoming shot. Unfortunately, Dale Hanson’s shot ricocheted off Eric Coswell’s shin pad causing the puck to take a change of direction.

The puck landed up in the bottom right corner of the Cougar’s net. Rick Miller had been screened on the shot and didn’t have any chance of stopping the puck that changed direction.

Only thirteen seconds of the first period had elapsed and the Cougars were down one to zero. Rick went for a short skate out of his net to regain his composure before returning to mentally prepare himself for the next face-off.

The same two centers lined up for the next face-off. Although Rick knew the first goal was not his fault, he felt his stomach muscles start to tighten like a knotted and twisted rope. The Knight’s center Noel Lamare won the face-off draw and immediately passed the puck to right winger Peter Stafford. Peter wound up for a one timer and put all of his two hundred pounds into his shot. He got excellent wood on the shot and Rick Miller didn’t even see the puck as it entered the right top corner of his net. Rick turned around in disbelief. This was the first time in his career he ever let in a goal taken from center ice.

The score was now 2 to 0 for the Norberry Knights and Rick began to panic. He wondered if he was still rusty after almost four weeks out of action. He also wondered if the concussion he suffered was now slowing down his reflexes. Rick knew how important this game was to his team and he didn’t want to be the player responsible for losing the game. He skated towards the Cougars bench, “Hey Brad. You can pull me and put Miles in goal.”

“What are you talking about? Get back in your net and do your job!” Brad Keenan yelled back at him. With an angry shake of his head Rick skated back to the goal. “How could Coach Keenan put me through this humiliation?” Rick thought.

The Maplewood Cougars bench almost visibly sagged after the second disastrous goal was scored on them. When Rick Miller got back in his net, he could hear the boos and cat calls coming from the Norberry Knights fans,

“Hey Miller, you suck! You couldn’t stop a beach ball.”

The laughing and derision only caused Rick’s anger to well up inside him. He was positively seething when the puck was dropped for the next face-off.

The face-off was won again by the Norberry Knights. The Knights set up a precision pass play that caused a two -on-one situation. This was a play that they had obviously been practicing for a long time. Fortunately, Rick read the play perfectly and stacked his pads to make an amazing save. The Knights bench just shook their heads in disbelief. The save that Rick had just made was nearly impossible. Eric Coswell skated over to Rick and tapped him on his pads.

“You still got it old man. Now we are going to start giving you some protection.”

What Eric just said seemed like empty words as the Knights won yet another face-off and dumped the puck into the Cougars end of the ice. Taylor King, Norberry’s left winger, was the first man to recover the puck. He quickly passed the puck back to Rob Janson, a powerful Norberry defenseman who was setting up to take a wicked slap-shot from the point. All three Knights forwards positioned themselves to block Rick’s view of the oncoming shot. Rick skated a few feet ahead and used his hands to maneuver a Knights winger out of the way. As Taylor King let his blistering slap-shot go, Rick had a small opening to see the puck coming towards the net. Rick dropped to his knees and caught the low shot in his trapper. As there was so much traffic in front of his net, Rick held on to the puck for a face off.

Episode 59:

Before the face off both teams had an opportunity to change up their lines. Coach Brad Keenan did not like what he was seeing on the ice. His Cougars were getting badly outplayed by Norberry and his team were just running around the ice like a pack of terrified mice who had just seen the cat appear.

The Norberry Knights were applying massive offensive pressure and Maplewood didn’t appear to have any answer for it. Brad turned his head toward assistant coach Vince Perreti.

“I’m going to take the first line off and send out the grinders. Let’s see what the fourth line can do during the next few minutes.”

“It’s worth a try,” was the response from Vince. “Right now we can’t seem to get the puck out of our own end.”

The Knight’s coach, Jeff Hadley saw what Brad was doing and called out his third line. Hadley’s third line were similar to Brad Keenan’s fourth line in that they were all role players. These guys knew that their purpose was to lay on the body hard. If injuries, penalties and fights resulted from their style of play, so be it.

Coach Jeff Hadley passed on a quick, to the point, message to his third line as they were preparing to jump over the boards.

“Look guys. Maplewood’s coach is hoping that a change in strategy will wake his players up. The going may get a bit rough out there, but I know that you’ll all do your jobs out there.”

Brad Keenan’s fourth line rarely got much ice time during a game. He sent this line out for brief periods of time when the opposition were starting to intimidate his scoring lines. The coach might also send them out when his offensive lines were getting tired or the Cougars held such a big league that the outcome of the game had already been decided.

Coach Brad Keenan had recently signed a new power forward named, Chad Barlow. Chad did not have much experience playing hockey, but he was a star linebacker with Maplewood’s football team, the Panthers. Brad was aware that whatever skills Chad still needed to develop as a hockey player, was more than compensated for by his positive attitude, desire, strength and aggressiveness on the ice.

Maplewood’s coach had not forgotten head referee, Steve Kowalski’s stern message, delivered before the game officially started, about keeping the game clean and under control. At this point in the game, Brad did not care. He realized that if he was unable to radically change the momentum of the game in his team’s favor, the Cougars would most likely suffer defeat in this pivotal hockey game. The Maplewood Cougars needed to win this game to maintain their mathematical chance of making the play offs this season.

A few seconds before Chad Barlow got a chance to climb over the boards, Coach Keenan whispered these instructions in his tough, power forward’s ears. “Look. Norberry has just sent Glenn Davidson out on the ice. Forget about what the head referee said. I want you to give Davidson and the rest of his team a strong message.”

“I gotcha Coach,” Chad replied while moving his tongue in a lizard like manner. “I’ll take care of Davidson or anyone else on the Knights who needs an attitude adjustment.”

“I know. That’s why I signed you,” Coach Keenan said with a smirk on his face.”